Editorial: Hasty, high-handed actions threaten Delta rescue

In the world of California water, the glass is both half full and half empty at the moment.

On the positive side, an increasing number of environmental groups are conceding that the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as it is currently plumbed, cannot sustainably supply water for much of California.

Several are making a good-faith effort to explore a possible canal or some other form of conveyance as part of a package to restore the health and fisheries of this estuary. One, the Nature Conservancy, has come out in support of a canal.

This is important. Too often the Delta debate is framed by rhetoric about "Southern California bleeding the North dry," etc.

The leadership of groups like the Nature Conservancy is needed to frame other questions: Will we ever be able to restore the Delta and its fish populations, if the state continues to pump water from the heart of this estuary? What kind of crisis will we create, if we wait for an earthquake to topple Delta levees, allowing saltwater to invade those pumps and shut down the state's main water supply?

Unfortunately, these encouraging steps are being overshadowed by haste on the part of the Schwarzenegger administration. In a report released Jan. 2, the governor's Delta Vision committee, made up of five Cabinet secretaries, has called for construction on a canal to begin by 2011 with or without the consent of the Legislature.

Even worse, the governor's committee wants to start canal construction before the Department of Fish and Game has developed requirements for minimum stream flows to protect tributaries of the Delta.

This last part should concern every Californian, especially residents here in Sacramento who cherish the American River.
A Delta restoration package that includes a canal might get some support from this region, if it is coupled with solid protections for rivers like the American that support salmon and steelhead. Without one, a canal project is a declaration of war.

There's still time for the Schwarzenegger administration to recover from this miscue. To begin with, it should ensure that some of the more enlightened proposals of the Delta Vision process are incorporated into the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, a parallel effort that has received less attention than Delta Vision.

A glass half full? Half empty? The administration's next steps could decide if the dream of a rescued Delta becomes reality.